Review: Smallville episode 9.2 “Metallo”
Tonight, Smallville continued the tradition of reinterpreting Superman’s classic rogues gallery for primetime television by introducing the future Man of Steel’s cyborg enemy Metallo. During last week’s season premier, the recently returned Lois Lane (Erica Durance) met a new reporter for the Daily Planet, John Corben (guest star Brian Austen Green), who fancies himself Clark Kent’s (Tom Welling) replacement. In a less than endearing move, he casually threw Clark’s nameplate from his desk in the garbage can. He also openly distrusts the so-called “Blur,” which does not sit so well with Lois.
***Spoiler Alert***
Over the years, Smallville’s writers have brought several of the classic Superman villains into the series. The most famous, of course was Michael Rosenbaum’s portrayal of Lex Luthor, who is believed dead at the hands of Oliver Queen. The always-magnificent James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) played Kryptonian supercomputer Brainiac. Last season, the Smallville writers did an excellent job of adding a human side to the future Superman killer Doomsday, who up until that point had been portrayed as little more than a wild animal. Even series star Tom Welling portrayed a villain in couple episodes, namely Superman’s imperfect clone Bizarro.
At the beginning of the episode, Blur-hater John Corben is at the scene of one of the Blur’s appearances when he is hit by a bus. He lies, bleeding in a puddle on the street until he blacks out. He wakes up on a table, alone, and quickly discovers that he has been changed. He has cybernetic attachments on his arm and chest, and finds his heart has been replaced with a glowing green chunk of Kryptonite.
The adaptation of Metallo for Smallville is pretty good. The writers take a very Spider-Man movie approach to the character, taking a villain who is pretty much just a super strong thief in the comics and turning him into a character the audience can empathize with. Visually, Metallo is obviously inspired by Iron Man with a little Terminator mixed in, and the beating Kryptonite heart is a touch you just don’t get in the static panels of a comic book. His violent actions are explained as side effects from Kryptonite radiation, causing his emotions to be amplified beyond his control.
Brian Austen Green gives a great performance this episode, especially during his confrontation with Clark, where he goes on an impassioned rant about how Clark is indirectly responsible for Corben’s sister’s death, and that Clark has no right to save the world and then hide in the shadows while other people live with the aftermath of his decisions. While he is defeated by Clark at the end of the episode, it is left open-ended as to whether or not he will return.
Of course this season also focuses on another Superman villain. General Zod has plagued Smallville’s characters before, having possessed the body of Lex Luthor in late season five/ early season six. Now, a younger Major Zod has appeared along with his own squadron of Kryptonian soldiers, called the Kandorians (Superman fans sound off!) While not present in this episode, they are revealed to have stolen the Lex Corp technology used to turn Corben into Metallo. Tess is shocked to learn that Kryptonian symbols are popping up all over the planet. Upon examining an image of the House of El symbol (aka the Superman logo), she sees the satellite camera has caught the image of a naked man laying on top of it, unconscious.
Clark’s not-so-red-and-blue- Blur costume has been catching a lot of criticism for being to similar to Batman. While it isn’t really indicative of the man Clark will become, it fits who he has been up to this point. Clark isn’t as sunny as Superman. He has brooded for the last eight seasons, and is just now starting to think that he needs to live life rather than watching from the shadows. The black suit is also thematically tied to the fourth season premier, where Clark’s personality was replaced by a more alien one. This version of Clark represented the ideal, fully trained Kal-El that Jor-El has been trying to create for the last several years. Maybe Clark’s final Superman costume symbolizes the compromises he makes between his father’s expectations and his actual life.
A growing part of that actual life is Lois Lane. This episode, Lois blackmails Tess Mercer into giving back her job at the Daily Planet. Though she doesn’t realize it, she has taken the place of Chloe Sullivan as Clark’s confidant. Clark, using a voice changer, calls Lois from a secure phone, attempting to have some kind of relationship with her while keeping his identity a secret. Though Clark still goes to Chloe for help this episode, it is only after Lois is captured by Metallo. Once Lois is saved, Chloe and Clark discuss his relationship with her. Chloe tries to make Clark admit that he has feelings for Lois, and urges him to return to civilian life at the Daily Planet to keep an eye on her, for fear that her blackmail of Tess will become more than she bargained for.
The Lois/Clark relationship is one of the greatest aspects of the Superman mythos today, where Lois knows Clark’s identity and the two are married and live happily. Unfortunately, the producers of Smallville have opted for the cliché “Lois doesn’t know he’s Superman” story that made the character a joke for so many years in the comics.
Lois is actually pretty pitiful when it comes to her relationship with “the Blur.” One eye-rolling scene this episode has a conversation between them go like this:
Clark: I will call you at our phone booth.
Lois: You call it ‘our phone booth,’ too?
However, her feelings for the man behind the cape—err, trench coat—are starting to show as well. She was all too happy to see Clark return at the end of the episode, rushing up to hug him before her senses caught up to her. Could this be aftereffects of last week’s vision where Lois saw herself and Clark in the throes of passion? Does she, somewhere deep inside, realize Clark is the Blur? More importantly, will the series allow the characters to progress, or are we in for another will they/ won’t they rollercoaster like the Clark/ Lana saga?
Come back for our coverage of next week’s episode “Rabid,” which sees the return of another Smallville-ized villain, the Toyman, as well as a “date” between Lois and Clark.
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Review: Smallville episode 9.2 “Metallo”
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